Windmill.



PATENTED JUNE 2, 1908.

H. G. TUCKER. WINDMILL. APPLICATION FILED SEPT.4 .1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

5' mm "to 2 m7 61 Hanna 9 jmzzm zm i? No. 889,413. PATENTED JUNE 2 1908.

' H. e. TUCKER.

WIND'MILL APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

a L zx g z UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOLLAND Gr. TUCKER, OF HEREFORD, TEX-AS, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM LT. LUNA, OF HEREFORD, TEXAS.

WINDMILL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2, 1908.

Application filed September 4, 1907. Serial No. 391,294.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOLLAND G. TUCKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hereford, in the county of Deaf Smith and State of Texas, have invented a new and useful Windmill, of which the following is a specification. v

This invention has reference to improvements in windwills, and its object is'to provide a wind-wheel in which the vanes may be set at any desired angle to the wind, so that the speed or power of the wheel may be regulated at will irres ective of the force of the wind, and the m' 1 may be provided with a directing tail or vane held in fixed relation to the wind-wheel so that the latter is always kept directed toward the wind and is put into and out of action entirely by the manipulation of the vanes on the wheel itself.

The invention consists essentially in a rotatable head mounted upon the usual tower,

and this head carries the main shaft of the.

wind-wheel, which may also constitute the crank shaft for the pump rod. The vanes of the wheel are mounted upon radial axes so as to be brought into varying angles to the wind,

with a centrifugal governor so connected up to the vanes as to maintain the wheel at a practically constant speed under varying conditions of wind pressure and load. At the same time, provision is made for throwing the vanes to such a position that their edges are presented to the wind and the Wheel will therefore remain at a standstill.

The invention further comprises a eculiar construction of directing vane or tail for the windmill, whereby the air pressure is equalized on each side thereof in such manner as to overcome any tendency of the directing vane to oscillate or switch.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accomanying drawings forming part of this speciication, in which,

Figure 1 is a central section through the wheel, with parts shown in elevation; Fig. 2 is a face view of the wheel, with parts shown in section and other parts omitted; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the wind-wheel head and directing vane or tail; and Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the manner of setting the vanes.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown the upper end 1 of a tower, which may be of ordinary construction and needs no particular. description. Secured in the tower head so as to rotate on a vertical axis is a swiveled sleeve 2 which may be made of a piece of pipe split at its upper end and formed into two oppositely directed arms 3, to the ends of which are secured journal boxes 44 for a shaft 5 having a crank 6 in linewith the axis of the sleeve 2, which crank is connected by a pitman 7 to a sliding rod 8 extending downward through the sleeve 2 and connecting to the usual swivel 9 which, in turn, is connected'in the usual manner to the pump or other mechanism to be driven.

Fast to one of the arms 3 is a horizontally extending bar 10 supported by a trussrod 11 connected at its front end to an extension 12 of the corresponding journal box 4 and at its rear end to the bar 10 at a point some distance from the extremity of said bar. Mounted upon the other journal box 4 is a supporting post 13 for the truss rod 11. The bar 10 is side braced by other truss rods 14 connected at their rear ends to said bar 10 and at their front ends to one of the arms 3 and separated by a spreader 15 fast on the other arm 3. The bar 10 is thus firmly supported and connected to the swiveled sleeve 2 so as to turn therewith. The bar 10 supports a directing or steering vane 16 which .may be formed of slats in the usual manner,

but in the present instance it is composed of two members 1718 separated at their rear ends by a cross piece 19 fast on the rear end of the bar 10, while the front ends of the members 1718 are brought to a sharp or feather edge, as indicated at 20, where they.

lie against the bar 10. Now, by this compound or double vane there is a lateral pressure brought to bear upon both sides of the same because of the angle presented by the two parts of the vane to the wind currents. The result is that the vane is steadied to a very marked degree in the wind currents and is prevented from switching or oscillating under the effect of such wind currents. The shaft 5 projects beyond the front journal box 4 and at a point between thesaid journal box 4 and the front end of the shaft there is mounted on the shaft a hub 21 from which radiate a number of arms 22, the said hub and arms being formed of a single steel casting and suitably secured upon the shaft.

The arms 22 carry two concentric pairs of rings 2324, the pair of rings 23 being secured to the arms 22 near the hub and the pair of rings 24 being secured to the arms 22 near their outer ends. The pairs of rings 23 and 24 clamp the inner ends of radial spokes 25 constituting the main supports for the vanes to be described. Connecting the spokes 25 at a point about midway of their length are hoop sections 26, and connecting these spokes near their outer ends are other hoop sections 27 The hoop sections 26 and 2! constitute the supports for the corresponding ends of segmental vanes 28, which in shape are similar to those generally used upon windmills. These vanes have their narrower ends connected by pivotal supports 29 to the hoop sections 26, while near their outer ends the vanes 28 are connected to straps 30, one end of each strap being pivotally connected to the hoop sections 27, as indicated at 31. The other end 32 of each strap is pivotally connected to a ring 33 of the same diameter as the ring made up of the sections 27. This ring 33 is capable of movement in a plane parallel with the axis of the wheel and at the same time has imparted to it a movement of rotation, so that the vanes may be caused to approach each other to bring their working faces into a position nearly at right angles to the direction of movement of the wind currents, or the vanes may be brought with their edges into the plane of movement of the wind currents, or said vanes may be brought into any intermediate position between these two positions. When the edges of the vanes are presented to the wind the wheel is, of course, at a standstill, since there can be no reaction between the wind currents and the wheel vanes. When, however, the vanes are brought into a position at right angles to the direction of the wind currents then the reactive force of the wind will cause the rotation of the wind-wheel at a speed and with a development of power depending upon the angle with which the working faces of the vanes are presented to the wind and also upon the speed of the wind currents.

In order to adjust the relative positions of the ring 33 and the hoop sections 27, which latter for convenience will hereinafter be termed a ring, these two rings are connected by levers 34, each having one end 35 projecting beyond the face of the ring 27, and the end 35 of each lever connected to the ring 27 by a spring 36. The lever arm 35 is provided with a number of perforations 37, and connected to the lever arm 35 through any one of these perforations is a link 38 ex tending, and connected to the longer arm through any one of a number of perforations 39 therein, of another lever 40 pivotally supported on the end of one of the spokes 25. It will be understood that there are two levers 40 at diametrically opposite points on the wheel, and there are two levers 34. The shorter end of each lever 40 is connected by a link 41 to the longer end of a corresponding responding end of a bracket 43 fast on the shaft 5. The shorter ends of the levers 42 are connected by other links 44 to a sliding collar 45 mounted on the shaft 5, and this collar is engaged by the yoke end 46 of a bellcrank lever 47 the other end of which is connected to a rod or wire 48 which extends down through the swiveled sleeve 2 and ultimately enters the rod 8, as shown at 49, and passes centrally down through the swivel 9 to a point within reach of an operator stationed on the ground. Each lever 40 carries at the end of its longer arm a weight or ball 50 which may be adjusted along said arm as desired. The spokes 25 are strengthened by brace rods 51 extending from near the extreme outer end of the shaft 5 to the spokes 25 at a point between the ring 27 and the ring 26. The shaft 5 may be tapered toward its outer end after passing through the hub 21 and the brace rods 51 may be fast at the ends adjacent to the shaft to a taper sleeve 52 which will grip the taper end of the shaft without the necessity of other fastening devices.

When the windmill is in the inoperative position the vanes are all set edgewise toward the wind currents. When the vanes are thus set on edge to the wind currents the levers 34 are both drawn in a direction against the action of the springs 36, which means that the rod or wire 48 has been drawn downward,

rocking the lever 47 on its pivot to draw the sleeve 45 away from the hub 21, and the weighed levers 40 have been moved with the balls forced outward away from the axis of the Wheel.

Now, let it be assumed that it is desired to start the wind-wheel in operation, it being understood that the face of the wheel is always presented toward the wind. The wire or rod 48 is loosened and then the springs 36 are permitted to act, throwing the ball levers 40 with their weighted ends in toward the axis of the wheel and the vanes are brought to a com aratively flat angle to the wind. The whee is now caused to revolve by the action of the wind and as it gains in speed the ball ends of the levers 40 tend to move outward away from the axis of the wheel against the action of the springs 36 with the result that the vanes are moved toward the edge position to an extent depending upon the speed of the wheel and upon the wind pressure. The wheel is therefore self-adjusting to the wind since as the speed of the wheel increases the outward tendency of the balls 50 will react upon the springs and so move the vanes toward the inoperative position, and should the speed decrease the springs will come into action and move the vanes toward the operative position.

I claim 7 1. A wind wheel com rising a relatively fixed ring, vanes pivota y secured thereto, another movable ring equal in diameter to the fixed ring and to which the vanes are also pivotally secured, lever arms connecting the two rings being pivotally connected to the fixed ring and tending to move the other ring circumferentially and axially with relation to the fixed ring, springs carried by the fixed ring and connected to the lever arms and tending to move the vanes into operativeposition, weighted arms movable in the direction at right angles to said lever arms and connected thereto and tending under the action of centrifugal force to move the vanes into inoperative position against the action of the springs, and means for adjusting the vanes comprising a movable collar on the wheel shaft, bell crank levers connected to c said collar, links extending from the bell crank levers to the weightedarms, another bell crank lever connected to the sleeve, and connections from the last-named bell crank lever for the manual operation of the same.

2. A wind wheel comprising a shaft, a hub mounted thereon, arms radiating from the hub, spaced pairs of concentric rings fast on said arms, spokes fast at their inner ends between the spaced rings and extending radially beyond the outermost ring, other s aced rings fast on the spokes concentric wit and exterior to the spaced rings fast to the hub, vanes carried by the spaced rings fast on the spokes, and means for shifting the vanes into and out of o erative position. v

3. A win -wheel com rising a shaft, a wheel frame composed o a hub mounted on the shaft, radiating arms on said hub, spaced pairs of concentric rings fast on said arms, spokes fast between the members of the pairs of rings and radiating from the hub and other connecting rings fast to said spokes, vanes pivotally connected to the rings fast to the spokes, another ring fast to the vanes and movable with relation to the wheel frame both axially and circumferentially, springs fast on the Wheel frame and tending to move the vane-controlling ring in a direction to move the vanes into operative osition, and

a centrifugal governor contro ing the rela* tively movable ring in opposition to the action of the springs.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HOLLAND G. TUCKER.

Witnesses:

W. C. Wrrnnnsroon, Rosoon DAvmsoN. 

